Despite respecting his abilities as a footballer many people will continue to dislike him for his attitude and the way he upset people in his 19 years playing for Manchester United. I think it is time to let it go and embraced Gary Neville as a great of the Premier League, respect him not just for his achievements but also his personality.
There is no doubt in my mind that for the first 12 years of my life as a football fan I have hated Gary Neville. He wound up fans, referees and players. But now I am starting to change my tune. Here is why….
I will never forget him running the length of the pitch, kissing his badge to celebrate under the Liverpool fan’s noses, after Ferdinand’s late goal.
In the dying embers of a game when you, as a supporter, want the opposition to submit, you can be sure that Neville will not let go until the final whistle; another reason why he was so annoying.
He was the embodiment of United’s spirit. As a Spurs fan, it was this spirit that I wanted to see broken, but it never came.
Should we admire the way he went about playing his football? i wonder what Schmeichel thought here.
He was not a good bloke, but he made me want to beat United that little bit more. Anything that brings passion into the game is good.
Ferguson said: ‘Gary was the best English right back of his generation.’ Was he really?
Think of world class full backs, you think of Cafu, Carlos, and now Maicon and Alves. They are all seriously quick, they have skill and offensive flair.
Neville, on the other hand, was determined. He hassled wingers all day, pushing them back up the pitch. He was efficient defensively and hard working. He got better offensively and delivered some great balls as well as scoring the odd goal. I think it says more for the lack of world class right backs the Premiership rather than Neville’s own ability that he was the best right back in the Premier league’s history.
He may not have been the most gifted player but he certainly got the most of what he had, and he was super-efficient. That is why Ferguson used him so much. United always seem to score in the last minutes of a game. It is because they know how to get the ball into good areas and deliver balls into the box. Neville was definitely part of that.
Certainly, no right back has achieved what he has, 8 Premier leagues, 3 FA Cups, 1 Champions league.
But can a right back really be given the label of being central to the success of a club? Especially with prolific goal scorers such as Cantona, Yorke, Cole,Van Nistelrooy, Ronaldo, Rooney, and this year Berbatov?
It is true that good strikers make the difference, but these days every top 4 team has world class players. United’s attitude sets them apart. Manchester United never roll over and die, and they never know when they are beaten, they grind out results, they come from behind and they score late. That is because of their team spirit and desire to always succeed.
No one epitomised this team spirit more than Gary Neville. That is why they were so hard to beat. Without him, their mentality may be different. His attitude will rub off on all the players around him, young and old, probably even on Fergie. When a foreign player comes to Manchester, they only need to spend a few moments with Gary Neville to see how much it means to him. That is part of United’s culture on the pitch. He has been central to their attitude and that has been central to their success.
I have spoken to people this week who have declared their undying hatred for Neville and promise to never let it go. I think this is wrong. To those who hate Gary Neville, I can see where you are coming from, and I have long felt the same myself. But now he has retired, I think we should all let it go. If he had played for your club you would have loved him. You have to respect that.
And most of all, you have to respect his career. He has kept himself fit for a long time, and for a comparatively lesser talented player, he has had a similar career to Giggs and Scholes, despite not having their classiness on the ball.
If Neville had not made it as a footballer I absolutely believe he would have gone to every home and away United game. He’d probably miss his wedding for it. I doubt any fan want United to win more than he does. I actually quite like a few things he has said, particuarly on young players being ‘too fragile and cocooned’. A sentiment almost all fans share.
Gary Neville definitely has ‘white line fever’, when he crosses the white line to go on the pitch he becomes abrasive, obnoxious and even deluded. But he will be missed in the game. Players like him are what makes our game so special.
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